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YouTube Time Machine Takes You Back in Time

While YouTube has only been around for just over five years, video and moving pictures date back to the late 1800s, and some of those hundred-year-old videos are available on YouTube to view. At the same time, it's a little difficult to just go searching for all YouTube videos that were created in 1912. That's where the YouTube Time Machine comes in. If you're looking to just take a trip back in time and see some notable videos from a specific era, or you're just curious about the evolution of motion pictures over the years, YouTube Time Machine can help you see.

Simply drag the scroll bar at the top of the page to the year you'd like to travel back in time to, and you'll get a YouTube video that was made in that year. Of course the videos themselves have been uploaded much more recently, but you can, for example, watch the 1944 trailer for the movie Going My Way, or footage of the Titanic docked in Belfast from 1912, or even a 2005 Welsh's Grape Juice commercial.

This is where the YouTube Time Machine is both a time-suck and a useful tool for history buffs. While the collection of videos can't compare to a purely educational and reference site like CriticalPast, the YouTube Time Machine is useful for people who are curious about what types of videos were made in different time periods, and even see some notable footage from the years they select.

If you're seeing the same video for the same year over and over again, you can change the filters on the side of the page to expand or narrow your search. For example, you can toggle videos from video games on or off, videos from television shows, commercials, current events and news, sports, movies, or music. By turning more selections on, you'll see more videos from each time period. If you've viewed one, you can click the "Watch Next Video" button to see more.

The YouTube Time Machine is fun, without a doubt, especially if you want to see, for example, what may have been news, popular movies, or hot music the year you were born. The trouble with it though is that once you've done things like look up your birth year or the year you graduated high school or something, you'll be there forever just scrolling around for interesting things to watch.

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